The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on August 15, 2014 released the following:

“LOS ANGELES— A federal grand jury has indicted a Chinese national on five felony offenses stemming from a computer hacking scheme that involved the theft of trade secrets from American defense contractors, including The Boeing Company, which manufactures the C-17 military transport aircraft.

Su Bin—who also used the names “Stephen Su,” “Stephen Subin” and “Steven Subin”—was named in a five-count indictment returned Thursday afternoon and filed in United States District Court.

Su is currently in custody in British Columbia, Canada, where he is being held pursuant to a provisional arrest warrant submitted by the United States. Su was previously charged in a criminal complaint filed in Los Angeles, but the indictment is now the operative charging document.

The indictment alleges that Su, a 49-year-old businessman, worked with two unindicted co-conspirators based in China to infiltrate computer systems and obtain confidential information about military programs, including the C-17 transport aircraft, the F-22 fighter jet, and the F-35 fighter jet.

The indictment specifically alleges three charges related to unauthorized computer access, a conspiracy to illegally export defense articles and a conspiracy to steal trade secrets. The charges carry a total maximum statutory penalty of 30 years in prison.

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in court.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.”

Douglas McNabb and other members of the U.S. law firm practice and write and/or report extensively on matters involving Federal Criminal Defense, INTERPOL Red Notice Removal, International Extradition Defense, OFAC SDN Sanctions Removal, International Criminal Court Defense, and US Seizure of Non-Resident, Foreign-Owned Assets. Because we have experience dealing with INTERPOL, our firm understands the inter-relationship that INTERPOL’s “Red Notice” brings to this equation.

The author of this blog is Douglas C. McNabb. Please feel free to contact him directly at mcnabb@mcnabbassociates.com or at one of the offices listed above.